Alienware Area-51 m9750 Laptop Review and Ratings

Editors’ Rating:

Our Verdict:
The SLI-equipped Alienware Area-51 m9750 is the most powerful gaming notebook we've seen to date, but with updated components on the horizon, it may not hold that title for long. Read More…

What We Liked…

Beautiful display

Dual SLI video cards offer record-breaking graphics performance

Excellent A/V connectivity, including built-in TV tuner

Will be refreshed with new nVidia graphics by end of year

What We Didn’t…

Expensive

Stale case design

No HDMI port

Short battery life

Newer components are on the horizon

Alienware Area-51 m9750 Laptop Review

By Erin Kandel, reviewed August 9, 2007

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It doesn't have the flashiest case or all the next-generation parts, but Alienware's flagship gaming notebook, the Area-51 m9750, remains a force to be reckoned with. Our fully loaded review unit posted the highest scores we've seen to date on our benchmark tests. For hard-core gamers who want to ditch their desktops—and have $4,488 to spare—the Area-51 m9750 is one of the best mobile gaming options out there. But—and this is a big but—before you spend a small fortune, we recommend waiting a bit until the latest performance-enhancing components from Intel and nVidia hit the market.

The Area-51 m9750 may be portable, but at 1.5x15.7x11.8 inches and 9.5 pounds, it's still a hulking presence on any desktop. The all-black notebook feels sturdy and solidly built, and we like that Alienware opted for a scratch-resistant, matte finish for the case (a pleasant change from all the fingerprint-laden glossy laptops we've seen lately).

But for all this attention to craftsmanship, we can't help noticing that the notebook's design seems staid, even a bit stale. Where HP has managed to inject some sleekness into its latest desktop replacements, the Pavilion DV9500t and Pavilion HDX, the Area-51 m9750 looks like a big, blocky notebook of yesteryear. Maybe this is because it sports nearly the same case as its predecessor, the Aurora m9700, with the small, glowing alien head and funky ridges on the back of its lid. While these items have become a calling card for Alienware notebooks, they're less eye-grabbing than the bold colors and flashing lights we've seen on systems like the Dell XPS M1710. No doubt, a good argument can be made for sticking with its tried-and-true look, but we wish Alienware had offered some design innovation.

One feature that will draw your eye is the glossy 17-inch wide-screen display. Instead of the standard 1,440x900-resolution screen, the LCD on our test unit had a 1,920x1,200 native resolution that's fit for playing games at top resolutions and watching high-definition movies. (Alienware offers a high-definition Blu-ray optical drive as an upgrade option, though our unit came with just a standard DVD burner.) In our tests, Company of Heroes gameplay looked clear and detailed at its maximum resolution. DVD playback looked excellent, too, with little motion blur during action scenes. One drawback to bear in mind is the tiny, barely readable onscreen text typical of high-resolution displays. We also took issue with the screen's glossy coating that, though it made colors appear richer, was too reflective in brightly lit environments. Above the screen, you'll find a Webcam built into the shiny black bezel.

Thanks to its oversize case, the Area-51 m9750 has space for a full-size keyboard and a dedicated number pad, plus a large touch pad with a scroll area that can also be used to turn the touch pad on and off. While the keyboard is well-made, comfortable, and not the least bit “clacky,” it's set far back into the case—nearly half our forearm had to stretch across the wrist rest to reach it. We eventually got used to the positioning, but it won't work for everyone. Just above the keyboard are touch-sensitive media-control buttons and five quick-launch keys, plus a row of status lights.

The Area-51 m9750 comes with a good assortment of ports, slots, and connections. For audio output, you get headphone and mic jacks, an optical audio out, and center, front, and surround-sound speaker jacks; two speakers are built into the front edge of the case. Both VGA and DVI outputs are included for video, but there's no High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) port, a disappointing omission considering that the m9750 can be equipped with a Blu-ray drive. (You can still hook up a high-resolution display using the DVI port, but HDMI-out would have been a better fit, since it can transmit audio and video over the same cable.) Alienware also includes a standard-definition NTSC TV tuner with coaxial and two S-Video inputs for watching and recording TV programming. As for wireless connectivity, the m9750 comes with 802.11n Draft-N Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.0.

Though Area-51 m9750 models start at a somewhat-reasonable $2,099, the price climbs quickly with component upgrades. Our tricked-out review unit featured a 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 CPU, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, two 160GB hard drives spinning at a desktop-caliber 7,200rpm, and two 512MB nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX GPUs in an SLI configuration (a $600 option over the single GPU). If you have more cash to spare, you can add another 2GB of RAM for (are you sitting down?) $850, or the aforementioned Blu-ray drive for an extra $550.

Alienware is also offering a few solid-state drive (SSD) options for the m9750: a single 32GB SSD costs $500, or you can pair a 32GB SSD and a 200GB standard hard drive for $800. Finally, a RAID 0 array with two 32GB SSD drives will set you back a wallet-busting $1,100. Our system came with the Windows XP Media Center OS, though Alienware is also offering Windows Vista Home Premium and Vista Ultimate with this system.

Naturally, with its twin video cards, graphics performance is where the Area-51 m9750 truly shines. It blew away the competition in our F.E.A.R. and Company of Heroes tests, turning in a blazing 71.6 frames per second (fps) in Company of Heroes at 1,600x1,200 with anti-aliasing turned on, and a very respectable 52.2fps at its native 1,920x1,200 resolution. This shattered the record held by the Dell XPS M1710 we tested back in March: Its single 512MB nVidia GeForce Go 7950 GTX graphics card pumped out just 35.8fps at 1,920x1,200. The m9750's Core 2 Duo T7600 CPU proved an excellent performer as well, offering up a score of 6,527 on our FutureMark PCMark05 productivity test, the highest we've recorded in our labs so far. We also saw excellent, though not record-breaking, scores on our Cinebench 9.5 (698), Windows Media Encoder (3 minutes and 15 seconds), and iTunes encoding (4 minutes and 23 seconds) tests.

Predictably, though, one area where the Area-51 m9750 and its powerful component set did not excel was battery life. Our review unit lasted just 1 hour and 13 minutes on our DVD battery-drain test, a low score even for a desktop-replacement system of its caliber.

With Intel's Core 2 Extreme mobile processor and nVidia's new DirectX 10 GPU, the GeForce 8700M GT, on the not-so-distant horizon, the Area-51 m9750 may not hold its performance records for long. While our test unit made the most of all the currently available hardware, gaming-notebook manufacturers, Alienware among them, will be rolling out systems with these new components in the upcoming weeks. At press time, our contact at Alienware said the company plans to offer dual nVidia GeForce 8700M GT graphics cards with the Area-51 m9750 by early October; an overclocked Intel Core 2 Duo T7600 CPU will also be available in the system before the end of the year. So far, Alienware has announced no plans to introduce Intel’s new Core 2 Extreme processors.

If you're looking for a gaming notebook with the latest components and the best performance, the pricey Area-51 m9750 is your best bet—for now. But if you can hold out a bit longer, the next generation of gaming notebooks isn't far away.